Samoan Missionaries

A SMALL party of Samoans passed through Sydney in mid-February en route to their homes after mis sionary service in Papua and New Guinea for the London Missionary Society. They included Auauana, and his wife, Vaiaga, who have been working in both Territories for more than 30 years, the last three of which were spent at Gemo Island, Port Moresby, where there is a leper station, erected by the Government and staffed by the LMS.

Talotonu, with his wife and family, has been in Papua for nine years, and will return early next year after spending furlough in Samoa. The wife of another missionary, who died in Parma after two vears’ service there, also returned to her home.

Miss Phyllis Abel, a member of the famous family which conducts the Kwato Mission, near Samarai, Papua, returned to the Territory recently after a holiday in England, America and Australia.

Rev. Henry Nelson Drummond, who was a worker for the Melanesian Mis sion in the New Hebrides, Solomons and Norfolk Island in the early part of this century, died in Australia recently.

Mr. A. Gibb, of Western Samoa, was a passenger for New Zealand recently.

He is connected with the NZ Reparation Estates.

Mr. J. R. B. Stewart, an archaeologist from Cyprus, was in Sydney recently. He is interested in art designs, and is engaged in a comparison of those of the Middle East and the Pacific.

Mrs. A. Gault, wife of the well-known Suva dental surgeon, died at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital jDn January 10.

According to the “Fiji Times”, Mrs.

Gault suffered an injury in a fall some months ago. She arrived in the Colony at the age of 10, as daughter of Mr. E. J.

March, who was Government Printer.

The late Mr. J. March, who was Collector of Customs at Suva, was a brother.

Mr. C. Harvey, of the Fiji Agricultural Department, returned to the Colony in mid-January after attending the Pacific Copra Conference in Sydney.

Miss Jean Hayes, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, of Sigatoka, Fiji, took a University Degree of Bachelor of Home Science in New Zealand recently. Miss Hayes is the first Suva Grammar School girl to attain this honour.

This group photograph, taken recently in Suva by Caine’s Studios, gives a good idea of the scope and character of the Fiji education system. It shows the students of the Natabua Davuilevu Teachers’ Training Institution. It

will be noted that the young men who are being trained as teachers comprise Indians and Fijians in about equal proportions, and that they work together harmoniously in this institution.

Rev. Harry K. Bartlett, L.Th., a well known Methodist missionary, arrived in Sydney recently from Misima, Papua, on furlough. He attended the annual board meeting of the Mission in Sydney early in February, and later proceeded to Adelaide.

Bishop Cecil Wilson, who was Bishop of Melanesia from 1894 to 1911, died at Perth, WA, on January 19, aged 81.

Mr. J. Mulvey, of the New Zealand Reparation Estates, Western Samoa, paid a visit to the Dominion recently.